This invention relates to toys, and in particular to a rotatable pedestal toy having a disc seat with handles for supporting a child that rotates over an uneven surface of a base allowing the child to tilt up and down while spinning in a circle.
Children enjoy spinning about in circles for fun and have tried to enjoy this pleasure by either spinning about in circles or using some type of device to get the effect. For example, children have been known to spin around using chairs with swivel bases. However, most chairs are intended for office type use and are not intended to be used as a playtoy. For example, most toys have a back support or both a back support and armrests, and are intended by their use to be used with tables. Additionally, it can be dangerous to spin on chairs where the rotating causes the chair to disengage from the base. Thus, chairs with swivel bases are not a practical device for children to play on.
It is known that many community playgrounds have rotatable equipment for children to play on. However, these types of playground equipment can generally, be large, heavy and expensive devices that must be permanently anchored to the ground in order to be used. Additionally, these types of playground equipment are generally limited to only allowing the child to rotate in one horizontal plane always being continuously parallel to the ground. Thus, the large cumbersome playground equipment would not be suitable for a single child to play on, and would not be portable, and would also not be inexpensive enough to be sold in most stores.
The first objective of this invention is to have a rotatable pedestal that allows a single child user to rotate in a horizontal uneven plane.
The second objective of this invention is to have a rotatable pedestal for children that is both portable, lightweight and inexpensive to manufacture.
The third objective of this invention is to have a rotatable pedestal for children having a flat surface seat area with handgrips inside the seat but without upright armrests nor backing.
A preferred embodiment of the rotatable pedestal includes a base stand having an upper uneven edge surface and a lower ground engaging surface, and a seat attached to the base stand where the seat rides over the uneven surface edge going from a horizontal position to a tilted position and back to a horizontal position and back to a tilted position as the seat rotates relative to the base stand. The uneven surface edge can be a sloped surface having an upper height of approximately 4.5 inches and having a lower height of approximately 2.5 inches. The angle of tilt can take the rider from a level position to a tilted position of approximately 20 degrees to approximately 30 degrees. The seat can ride over the uneven surface edge of the base stand by two wheels such as rollers that can have rubber surfaces for creating a cushion effect. The seat can be attached to the base stand by having a t-post that has upper arms that pivot to cylindrical gimbal type housing fastened beneath the seat. The longitudinal leg of the post can rotate to and be connected to the axis of the base stand by bearings, and the like.
Elastic members such as springs having one end connected to the longitudinal leg of the post stand and opposite ends attached beneath the seat alternate between a compressed position and a stretched position as the rider is rotating. A rider starts the rotation of the seat by leaning to one side. Thus, putting body weight on the rollers causes the rollers to roll down the slope causing the seat to rotate at the same time. Inertia causes this motion to continue so that the original momentum allows the rolling to continue rolling up the upward slope portion. When the rolling begins to slow down, the rider can lean to the opposite side to continue rolling in the same rotational direction. Alternatively, the rider can continue leaning to the same side during the ride. This would cause the rotation to reverse. Thus, the ride can have a roller coaster effect. The stretching and compressing of the springs allows the pedestal to return to a level position when not in use. The seat can be disc shaped with side through-holes that act as handgrips for the rider. The pedestal is small enough and light enough to be portable and strong enough for most children up to the age of approximately 12 years old.
Further objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of a presently preferred embodiment which is illustrated schematically in the accompanying drawings.